Home away from home

Having become a regular face among Telethon’s star line-up since joining Home and Away, actress Sophie Dillman jumps at any opportunity to get back to Perth.

This weekend, the 25-year-old stunner will jet into WA and frock up for one of the hottest events on Perth’s social calendar, Bentley Polo in the Valley, attending as a guest at Telethon’s exclusive marquee alongside co-stars Patrick O’Connor, Timothy Franklin and Courtney Miller.

“I’ve only been to Perth for Telethon, so I’m super excited to be coming back,” Dillman says by phone from Sydney. “Telethon is fantastic but you sort of only see the inside of the (convention centre) and the hospital, so I’m excited to have a little explore of Perth. It’ll be great. We’re all really good friends, so it’ll be great fun.”

But there’s one thing on her to-do list that she hopes to fulfil when she’s in town: the famous quokka selfie.

Snapping a photo with the Rottnest Island marsupial has become a favourite pastime for visiting celebrities, with recent fans including Chris Hemsworth, Margot Robbie and Roger Federer.

Dillman has only recently heard about quokkas — dubbed the “happiest animals on Earth” — and their friendly reputation.

“We were given a chocky quokka for Telethon last year but I didn’t know what it was,” she says.

“One of our fellow cast members went to WAAPA and he explained what a quokka was, so I did some research and now I’m all over it.”

Another exciting aspect of Dillman’s Perth visit is frocking up for Polo in the Valley, which is marking its 10th anniversary.

Fashion at the Swan Valley event has long been a talking point, with celebrity guests and Perth identities — including Seven Perth’s Matt Tinney and Angela Tsun, who will MC this year — often wowing with their wardrobe choices.

“I’ve got a couple of options that I’m deciding between,” Dillman says. “But I’m very excited — it’s one of the funnest bits about the whole experience, I think.”

On screen, Dillman has been forced to relive the heartbreak of her character Ziggy when she discovers her husband Brody (Jackson Heywood) has been having an affair with Simone (Emily Eskell).

The duo had been sneaking around behind Ziggy’s back and the heartbreaking revelation is set to come to light on the show this week.

“It’s really heartbreaking,” Dillman says. “Because we film quite far ahead I’m coming back and revisiting all those things. You really feel for poor Ziggy. I mean, I think I feel for everyone involved in that story — I feel for Brody having been so torn and Simone just genuinely loving someone. I think it’s all so sad.”

She adds that many fans have reached out to console her when Simone and Brody’s affair began to unravel.

“There has been a lot of team Brody, team Ziggy and team Simone,” she says. “I find it quite funny, you get messages from fans that keep saying ‘Do you know that your husband is cheating on you? Are you aware of it?’ So people get very invested.”

“First and foremost, we are acting. That is our job. But the best part about it was, because we have such a great respect for each other and everyone had an idea of how they wanted the story to go and how they played their bit, everyone was so respectful of that. So if anyone needed something or someone wanted something different, we were very open with that communication.”

Home and Away airs Monday to Thursday at 7pm on Seven/GWN7. Tickets to the Telethon marquee for Saturday’s Bentley Polo in the Valley are available at polointhevalley.com.au.